1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to attachments or accessories to beds, more particularly to attachments adapted to cover or protect a rail or frame portion of a bed and most specifically such attachments adapted to provide a cushion for an L-shaped steel rail comprising a portion of a bed frame.
2. General Background
Historically bed frames are considered generally to have been made from wood. The utilization of steel in bed construction was perhaps first known and widely practiced in the manufacture of springs in a box frame which is commonly known as box springs. Head and foot boards, as the terms connote, were and still preferably are, made from wood. Neither box springs nor head nor foot boards, however, are considered to comprise components of a typical, modern, bed frame. Box springs are considered to be separate from a bed frame though typically disposed directly upon the frame, and both head and foot boards, though historically a part of a wooden bed frame, are unnecessary to a steel bed frame which typically lacks both. Brass bed frames, though quite popular earlier in this century, are considered fairly uncommon today and bed frame construction currently is considered to be predominantly in steel despite this practice being relatively recent.
Modern bed frames of steel construction are further considered typified by the use of a pair of L-shaped steel side rails attached proximate either end to a perpendicularly disposed L-shaped steel end rail to which a pair of feet are attached. While both pairs of steel rails are typically constructed from an extruded L-shaped length of steel possessing a corner from which two legs extend perpendicularly, each leg having a longitudinal free edge diagonally parallel to the other, the side rails are invariably oriented upward and the end rails typically oriented downward. Upward and downward in this case is understood to connote the direction of a vertical leg in relation to the corner of the rail with the other leg disposed horizontally.
The side rails are further considered to be necessarily oriented upward in a modern bed frame of typical construction in order to provide, at the minimum of expense in construction, lateral positioning of the box spring disposed therebetween thus ensuring that the box spring remains immobile with respect to the bed frame. The box springs rest upon the upper surface of the horizontal, inward oriented, legs of the side rails and the end rails are attached to the lower surface of the same. The end rails necessarily are oriented downward in this construction with the upper surface of the horizontal legs flush with the lower surface of the horizontal legs of the side rails. The legs, furthermore, are typically attached to the vertical legs of the end rails which, for this reason also, must be oriented downward. This arrangement is considered to be the most economic and the most common construction of bed frames known at present.
It is also noted that, historically, beds commonly possessed greater height than that which is common today. Heat was relatively more expensive in centuries past and sleeping closer to the floor, where it was colder, was undesirable. Today residential ceilings are commonly only nine feet high or less whereas a century ago ceilings were commonly twelve feet high or more. With relatively lower energy costs and newer technology such as central heating and air conditioning, it is more economic to build residential structures with relatively low ceilings and to build beds which are lower to the ground than the equivalent historical structures. A bed construction which is lower to the ground than another construction is more economic to manufacture than the other. Less material is required of the structure of lesser height, obviously, and the structure itself may be made of lighter gauge material since a lower structure of the same gauge material is inherently more stable than the higher structure.